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Sigma 85mm F1.2 ART Review | My New Favorite 85mm F1.2
Aug 28, 2026
Photographer Dustin Abbott takes a deep dive look at the Sigma 85mm 1.2 ART lens for Sony FE and L-mounts. Review includes comparisons to Sony 85mm F1.4 GM II and Sigma 85mm F1.4 DN | Read the Text Review: | Purchase the Sigma 85mm F1.2 ART @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/4c2bKNm |
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Table of Contents:
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0:00 - Intro
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0:00
When Sony first launched its E-mount about 15 years ago, it was originally for APS-C
0:16
and a few years later they had their first full-frame cameras that came out that used that same E-mount
0:21
and immediately the prognosticators began to say that there were certain things that couldn't be done with the E-mount
0:26
because it originally had been an APS-C mount. And so that included not being able to have lenses with too bright a maximum aperture, say f1.2
0:37
Precluded having things like pancake lenses. And of course, in the years that follow, Sony has gone right ahead and seen most all of those things happen
0:47
And some of that has been through third-party developers. We have seen first Sigma with a 35mm f1.2, then later with a 50mm f1.2, and then a second 35mm f1.2
0:58
We've seen Viltrox release a 26mm f2.8 pancake lens along with a couple of others
1:05
And of course we've seen Sony themselves launch a 50mm f1.2 The final frontier that they said couldn't be done was an 85mm f1.2 on e-mount
1:18
Well here I am filming right now on the Sigma 85mm f1.2 Art Series lens
1:27
The lens that could not be made has in fact been made, and today I'm going to break down for you why I think that the Sigma 85mm f1.2 might just be the best 85mm f1.2 that we have seen thus far
1:42
I want to say a big thank you to Sigma Canada for sending me over a loaner of this lens
1:46
It will be going back to them at the end of this review, unfortunately, and they have had zero input in the review itself
1:52
My findings are my own. That aside, we'll jump into all of this right after a word from our sponsor
1:59
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That's store.phantomwallet.com and use code DUSTIN20 for 20% off. So first, a quick look at price
2:56
This is coming to market with an MSRP of $1,600. That compares to Sony's G-Master F1.4 option at about $2,000
3:06
Then if you look at the F1.2 competitions from first parties on either Canon or Nikon
3:12
the Canon L lens is right around or right over $3,000. The Nikon S series lens F1.2 is right under $3,000
3:21
And so obviously this is hugely less expensive than what those first party options are
3:27
It is also lighter, by the way. It weighs in at 950 grams or 33 and a half ounces, whereas the Canon weighs in at nearly
3:36
1,200 grams. The Nikkor is 1,160 grams. And so this is the only one of these three options that actually comes in under a kilogram
3:47
So obviously that is significant as well. In terms of the overall size, you can see it's not a small lens by any stretch of the imagination
3:54
but it is marginally smaller. It is 87.2 millimeters or 3.4 inches in diameter
4:01
It is 111.7 millimeters or 4.8 inches in overall length. As we've come to expect from Sigma's lenses
4:11
this is a premium lens in terms of the feature set. It has a full set of aperture control here
4:17
and so we have the option to have an aperture that is either clicked with one third stop to 10th
4:22
a good firm stop in between there, or you can de-click that aperture
4:26
if you wanna do aperture racking like this and smoothly move throughout it
4:30
We also have an iris lock, which will allow you to either lock into this aperture ring
4:35
or you can have the option of locking out of it if you're a person that doesn't like
4:40
to use a manual aperture ring. So obviously all of that is very useful. The aperture iris itself has 13 blades
4:46
which produces a nice circular shape when stopped down. And by the way, you can get specular highlights
4:53
that are very nice and round even right before F2 all across the frame
4:57
If that's something that's a big deal to you, maybe in certain shots it will be
5:00
We have two custom buttons here that can be programmed from within camera
5:05
These are going to be redundant in terms of their function, but they're designed so you have one accessible whether you're shooting in a vertical or horizontal position
5:12
There's also an AF-MF switch here. All the things that we're looking for on our prime lenses
5:18
The manual focus ring moves nice and smooth generally. There is a little tiny bit of rubbing on my review copy
5:25
You can hear it maybe there. But it does its job. It has a decent level of damping
5:32
It has good precision. obviously it's as we're going to see from the autofocus section autofocus motors are very
5:37
responsive here and so that means that the manual focus experience is very responsive as well
5:42
up front we have an 82 millimeter front filter thread which is big but very common and easily
5:47
accessible it does come with a nice hood and Sigma's hoods are definitely some of the nicest
5:54
in the business they've got you know extra texture areas rubberized surfaces some grip surfaces
6:00
it's got a locking button all of those things that you might expect from a premium lens hood
6:04
unfortunately what we no longer get with these lenses with their new eco packaging is a nice
6:10
zippered padded case that used to be the standard for Sigma I really do miss getting that and so I
6:15
do have to dock them on foregoing that at this point we have a thorough weather sealing throughout
6:21
that starts with a gasket here and then seals throughout the lens itself and that true either on Sony E which I testing here or L as well Minimum focus distance is 84 centimeters
6:34
However, it only produces a fairly tepid 0.11 times level of magnification. That's a little
6:41
bit lower than average. It is shared, however, by the Sony G-Master Mark II. And so unfortunately
6:46
the bar is low and Sigma did not clear it. It's basically identical in terms of that magnification
6:52
So I am a tiny bit disappointed like that. I would prefer a higher level of magnification
6:57
Every little bit helps for giving you more versatility in the lens, but obviously that's
7:01
still plenty for getting nice tight framing for headshots and things like that. Just don't buy
7:06
this lens to use it as a macro lens. In general, however, this is a very, very nicely executed
7:13
package made in Japan at Sigma's factories, which I visited and they are impressive and looks good
7:20
on the camera. It's big and bulky, but as we have seen, it is less big and bulky and heavy than the
7:26
competing lenses that it's going up against. So let's talk autofocus. Sigma has equipped their
7:32
newest lens with dual HLA, which stands for high-speed linear actuator focus motors. And these
7:38
are Sigma's newest, best, fastest focusing lenses. And pairing two of them together both at the front
7:45
and rear of the focusing group has allowed them to develop lightning fast autofocus even in a lens
7:52
that has big heavy optical glass like this one. You can see in my formal test that autofocus is
7:58
really very close to instant and that obviously sets it at an advantage compared to Canon's own
8:04
USM driven 85mm f1.2L, which autofocus was, you know, it's fine, but it's certainly not at this
8:11
level. And better also than Nikon's 85mm f1.2S, which is using STM focus motors instead. So while
8:20
Sony is the last to get an 85mm f1.2 of these major brands, I would say that it is getting the
8:27
best focusing lens of the bunch. Now, as always, there are going to be limitations because this is
8:31
a third-party lens. So that means here on Sony that a maximum burst rate of 15 frames per second
8:37
But for most people who are going to use an 85 millimeter f1.2 lens, that's probably not going
8:42
to be a deal breaker. Those of you that purchase this lens on L mount where it's also available
8:46
will have no such limitation. I found that when shooting a portrait session that I had
8:52
flawless results even when shooting at f1.2. I didn't have one missed shot and you can see that
8:58
autofocus, whether I was shooting indoors or shooting out of doors, I got incredible precision
9:04
beautifully focused, and beautifully sharp results. And focus was effortless. Likewise, when I shot in a few event type settings, again, it was just effortless. It was pretty much point
9:15
and shoot unless there was a particular subject I want where I could just kind of touch to that
9:19
area on the screen. And again, it would lock right onto the eye and deliver perfectly focused results
9:24
even if I was snapping a shot and didn't have a lot of time to devote to focus
9:29
I found also when just shooting family-type shots or shots with kids
9:34
that I was able to get well-focused results all across the board. This is a beautifully focusing lens for stills
9:41
Now, on the video side of things, I would say that autofocus was also largely very good there
9:46
Now, Sigma, in their literature, they talk about how they've worked to mitigate focus breathing here
9:52
and I don't think that it's entirely eliminated. Of course, it's tough with a longer focal length
9:56
and a maximum aperture of f1.2. However, focus breathing is certainly not bad
10:01
for a lens like this and it is fairly well controlled. Focus pulls are smooth and confident going back and forth
10:08
There's obviously no visible steps. This isn't a stepping motor and so all of that is nice, smooth and linear
10:14
My only frustration that I had is that I felt like there was a few occasions
10:18
where I was shooting objects like flowers where to me the focus was right on something obvious in the foreground and in video mode it
10:28
didn't necessarily want to lock onto that. The ironic thing is I switched over to stills and I
10:32
took this shot in the very same setting and obviously I got the result that I wanted
10:37
That was a obviously a minor issue that was kind of also isolated but at the same time I did want
10:44
to point out you know the one critique that I have because autofocus other than that was actually
10:48
Really excellent for photos and video, and I have no issues with it
10:54
So in general, I would say that Sigma has nailed autofocus here, particularly for such a demanding type lens
11:00
The dual HLM motors do a fantastic job. We have 17 elements in 12 groups, and you can see that includes a couple of SLD elements
11:09
And then also we have got three different aspherical lenses in the design
11:13
Now, this chart is interesting because not only does it show the wide open MTF for the new f1.2 lens, but it also charts a comparison to the f1.4 Sigma lens that we have previously had for the last about six years
11:28
So you can see that the new f1.2 lens is basically sharper all across the frame at f1.2 than what the older f1.4 lens is at any point at f1.4
11:39
So that definitely gives us an advantage, a very sharp center, but an even sharper mid-frame and then edge performance that is still quite good, averaging out to nearly a 70% figure there and so very, very strong optically
11:55
We'll come back to the sharpness in a moment, but let's look at a few other metrics first
11:59
The 85mm f1.4 art lens suffered from a lot of pincushion distortion
12:05
And we can see there is a bit of pincushion distortion here, but it is much better managed
12:10
And there is some vignette concentrated in the corners, but it's not extreme either
12:15
Now, there is a correction profile that can deal with all of this, but in manually correcting
12:18
I dialed in just a minus two and then a plus 46. Both of those figures are very mild
12:24
Now speaking of that correction profile, here's a look at a couple of twin shots, one without
12:29
the correction profile on and then the other with the correction profile on
12:34
And you can see definitely having that vignette does change the nature of the shot
12:39
Which one you like better really comes down to your taste. Now this lens is not anywhere near an apochromatic design here
12:47
We can see that there is a bit of fringing before and after the plane of focus Certainly not terrible but if we punch in here and take a closer look we can see a bit of fringing in some of the lettering here
12:59
and then a bit on some of these shiny surfaces, also a little bit on some specular highlights
13:05
nothing that is too strong. On the note of those specular highlights, we can see that they are
13:09
reasonably clean. There's not any kind of well-defined inner line, and just a little bit of
13:14
pattern in there, but nothing like concentric circles. As far as the geometry here, we can see
13:20
that wide open, there's a bit of that lemon or cat eye shape. By F2, however, we can see that
13:25
we've got perfectly circular shapes across the frame, stopping on down to F2.8. And we see that
13:30
that 13 blade adapter is doing a really beautiful job of keeping a circular looking effect. Now
13:37
while we saw a bit of longitudinal style chromatic aberration, lateral style chromatic aberrations
13:41
that show up near the edge of the frame are very, very well controlled. Now here's a look at the test chart
13:46
I'm shooting on a 61 megapixel of Sony a7R Mark V, and these results are shown at 200% magnification
13:52
We can see in the center of the frame at 200% f1.2
13:56
that the center is super sharp and high contrast, just as the MTF suggested
14:01
The mid-frame also looks really fantastic. As we kind of look down through here
14:07
we can see good consistency from this corner to this corner. And even right down to the very edge, we're seeing very strong, very consistent performance
14:16
So for a point of comparison, let's take a look at the older 85mm F1.4
14:21
One caveat as I do some comparison to some older chart tests, I've actually changed my lighting system on my test chart now
14:29
And so while it looks like they've exposed the same, it's because different lights were used
14:33
This definitely shows a difference between F1.2 and F1.4 in terms of brightness
14:38
If we look at the center of the frame compared to the existing 85mm F1.4, we can see that the center definitely looks crisper, better detailed, looking just better there generally
14:49
Let's pop over here since we have the same marks there. And we can see that looking on this bill that definitely there's higher contrast and detail that's available there
14:58
And if we pop back down to this corner, we can see definitely more detail here versus here, better contrast, and that that detail comes out a little bit further to the edge
15:09
We can also see the impact of having less distortion in that this looks like it is just cleaner looking
15:15
Now, if we compare to the premium Sony G Master F1.4 Mark II, we can see in the center of the frame that I actually prefer the Sigma at F1.2 than what I do the Sony at F1.4
15:28
However, we can see that as we progress out into the frame that the Sony not only catches up but surpasses the Sigma
15:36
It definitely looks better here, higher contrast and detail relative to the Sigma
15:40
and then down into the corners, we can just see that there's a bit more contrast and detail
15:45
And that contrast in particular is really punchy right out to the very edge of the frame
15:49
Now stopping the Sigma down to F1.4, it does give it even a bit more contrast and detail
15:56
So it's going to be definitely the best in the center of the frame of all of these at F1.4
16:01
We can also see that there's a little bit more there in the mid frame
16:06
And as we look down to the edge, just a bit more contrast. Look at this door here
16:10
for example, just a little bit more showing up there in the detail right off to the edge of the
16:14
frame. Now, test charts don't always tell the full story. So let's look at a few real world images
16:19
here again at f1.2 at an infinity distance, often very hard for portrait, you know, themed lenses
16:25
We can see that detail and contrast is fantastic. And that's right from edge to edge, a really
16:32
really strong performance. Now, if we compare f1.2 to f2.8, particularly off at the edge of the frame
16:40
Let's get rid of a few distractions there. You can see that there is a bit more detail and contrast that is showing up here at the edge
16:47
In the center of the frame, I mean, it's hard to discern any kind of real difference between the two
16:52
Then from f2.8 to f5.6, again, there is a little bit more contrast there, but you can hardly tell
17:00
I can tell it a bit more as I look towards the corner where some of these textures just look a little bit crisper at f5.6
17:07
And we're pretty much in your peak edge performance there. at f5.6. So how about a couple of portraits? Now, obviously at this distance, depth of field is
17:15
tiny, but what we can see is that even at f1.2, you can see beautiful detail all around the eyes
17:22
Look at all the detail that's captured on the lips there. The skin texture is generally really
17:28
really impressive. And if we go out to a further distance, number one, you can see nice defocus in
17:33
the foreground and the background, giving us unique subject isolation. There were some tall
17:38
thing sticking up here and all you can see is a bit of color that come from them and if we punch
17:42
into the face and then just looking at just the detail on the shirt the vintage camera that the
17:49
model's holding all of that you can see that you couldn't really ask for more detail and contrast
17:54
it looks really beautiful this shot also stood out to me for just being f1.2 the amount of just
18:01
raw contrast on those wet leaves is just really really amazing so fantastic job on sharpness and
18:08
contrast. Now, if we compare these three lenses stopped down a little bit here at F2 for both
18:14
lenses, I'm shocked at how big the difference is between the F1.2 and the F1.4 lenses. It's just
18:20
it's remarkable how much stronger the newer lens looks. And again, that's pretty consistently true
18:26
across the frame. Now, as we've seen before, the G Master is the bigger challenge. However
18:31
we can see that in the center of the frame, the Sigma is still definitely looking better than the
18:35
GM lens. Again, however, in the mid-frame though, the GM definitely catches up and surpasses it
18:42
But now I would say that margin is slim. And if we look down into the corners, I would say that
18:49
right out here at the edge, I think the GM still has more punch and contrast. But even right here
18:54
I think there's actually a little bit more detail for the Sigma. Either way, this is obviously a
18:59
very impressively sharp lens. One last comparison at f2.8. And here, I would say that the Sigma has
19:05
definitely caught up and maybe even surpassed the GM lens in terms of just raw contrast
19:11
You can see there's just more punch just in textures. Even this 9 looks darker compared and just better defined versus the GM lens Also this tiny print here it just more readable than what it is on the G Master And off into the corners
19:27
now I would say the Sigma is, I mean, as far as the text here, it looks crisper
19:32
All of this patterning here is definitely higher contrast than what I see on the Sony
19:37
I'm really impressed with what Sigma has done on the optics here. Now, diffraction impacts even the
19:42
sharpest of lenses and so we can see by f11 it's definitely looking not nearly as sharp and high
19:47
contrast and f16 is mildly worse it'd still be usable at 100 magnification but obviously your
19:54
peak performance is going to be up to about f8 on a high resolution body returning for a moment back
20:00
to the magnification and up close detail we can see that up close the sigma does utilize floating
20:05
elements and so it's good and crisp up close you know performing very well we can see here if this
20:12
is the sony g master the magnification level looks the same however the up close performance
20:19
definitely favors the sigma and if i toggle back and forth you can see that the sigma is definitely
20:25
better up close finally the sigma f1.4 lens provides us a higher level of magnification
20:31
But the new f1.2 lens definitely gives us the best detail up close
20:36
So definitely our close-up performance. I mean, the level of detail and contrast is just, I mean, it's gorgeous
20:42
You have the ability to strongly defocus backgrounds, you know, up close
20:46
And then even here, as we get a little bit further out, that f1.2 aperture really isolates subjects
20:52
And so you can see that even in more complex scenes, because it's able to so quickly accomplish, you know, a defocus effect that it looks better
21:00
I also love this, and that's the ability to really play with an image based on where the focus point is
21:07
So when it's, you know, towards the front and the background is defocused, it's a certain effect
21:12
And then here, you know, going to the opposite effect, it actually kind of draws you down into the scene using that shallow depth of field
21:19
This is an image that could look busy elsewhere, but it's really visually interesting with the shallow depth of field
21:26
Likewise, let's look at portraits again here for a moment. And so, I mean, that's beautiful
21:32
I mean, detail, contrast, all looks really fantastic. But then looking at the defocus, it all looks really nice
21:38
Going a little bit further out and shooting at f1.2, you can see that strongly blurred
21:42
out foreground and background, and yet really amazing detail on the subject
21:48
And then even in isolating people in an event type setting here, obviously I can use other
21:54
people as my frame and shooting at this gentleman here. and you can just see how great the detail is there
22:01
And then finally, Sigma's colors. I think most of us are pretty familiar with Sigma's optical glass at this point
22:07
And it is very, very good. Provides great looking images. Finally, when it comes to flare resistance
22:14
here you can see this is, I can't tell you how bright the sun was. I couldn't even hardly stand to look at it
22:19
And all we got is just a little bit of a glow effect here. So their coatings are doing a very good job
22:25
And again, going through this aperture rack, It's overexposed initially because it's shooting at f1.2 and we're up against the 1,8 thousandth limit
22:32
But as we stop down, we can see no ghosting artifacts starting to show up against some
22:36
bright sun. So in general, I think that Sigma has done an amazing job with the optics here, just
22:42
top notch. So what's my conclusion? Well, the truth of the matter is that Sigma has done a fantastic job of tackling this brief
22:50
that no one else has brought to market yet. I believe that there are a couple of other 85mm f1.2 lenses that are yet to come
22:59
Viltrox has promised one in their Lab series, and we also have Songra about to release an 85mm f1.2 of their own
23:07
I can fairly confidently say that neither of those lenses will have quite the degree of polish that this Sigma lens does
23:14
It manages to do everything really, really well and feels, even before its release date, in this kind of pre-release state that I've reviewed at, it feels like an extremely polished retail-ready lens that is just as stable and you can have as much confidence in it as any first-party lens
23:33
and that is I think the place where Sigma is as a company right now that they're able to tackle
23:38
these projects of combining maximum apertures and focal lengths that are rarely done and able to do
23:45
them with complete aplomb. The fact that this lens is going to come to retail at about $1,700 US
23:50
is also a testament to their performance. Sure that is an expensive lens but when you consider
23:56
the fact that either the Canon or the Nikon lens are in the $3,000 plus US dollar range
24:03
meaning that this lens is just barely over 50% what those lenses are costing, that tells you just
24:09
how great a bargain that E-mount and L-mount users are getting relative to what's been available on
24:16
Canon and Nikon platforms. And that, I think, is what helps to make this lens a real winner
24:21
There are a lot of people that are maybe intrigued about the idea of what an 85mm f1.2 lens can do
24:28
Love the look of the images that has that shallow depth of field that essentially mirrors that of an 135mm f1.8
24:37
But either the price of entry or some of the clunky shortcomings of lenses like that in the past have barred people from adopting them
24:45
I think that this Sigma has a much lower bar of entry and it is so easy to use
24:50
it happens to be also smaller and lighter weight than its competition making it a really killer
24:57
option now there is the reality that for roughly the same money or just a bit more you can get
25:02
sony's own 85 millimeter f1.4 g master mark ii which is an excellent lens it is incredibly sharp
25:09
it does a lot of things incredibly well but frankly i actually personally prefer the rendering from
25:16
this Sigma lens. That's of course up to your taste as well. But at the end of the day, I think Sigma
25:21
has done everything that it needed to do and has delivered a lens at a price point that is going to
25:27
make a lot of photographers, particularly portrait photographers, very happy. If you want more
25:32
information, feel free to check out my full text review, which is linked in the description down
25:35
below. As always, thanks for watching. Have a great day and let the light in
25:46
Thank you
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